Henry smirks and grabs a beer from the fridge. “I just don’t understand how you can fuck so much. We’ve been here for four months, and your belly is the size of a bloody watermelon. Don’t you ever get tired?”

“Henry!” Loke shouts. “Do you want us to keep letting you stay here? Shut your blubbering mouth and sit down.”

“Sorry,” Henry grumbles. “You’re right. I do enjoy coming here. You all keep me very intrigued.”

I look down at my belly. I feel exhausted. There’s no denying that. We’ve locked ourselves in this place for four freakin’ months. I don’t think we’ll ever get away from Freddie’s family. “I thought we’d have come up with a plan by now. Henry, you’re an ass and a buffoon, but you’re right.”

“I am?” Henry asks.

“He is?” Freddie asks.

I run my hand over my belly, feeling my womb’s delicate, round solidity. I sigh and sit down on the floor. “Yes, he is. What are we doing here at this airpark? We need to come up with a plan. I swear, it’s almost like you guys want to stay here forever. I don’t have much time until these babies come. Every day I can feel them growing stronger,” I say.

Eric rubs his hands over his temples, defeated and stressed. “What can we do, son? We’ve been here for years, and nothing has changed. We tried. For so long, we tried. All we can do is wear these cloaks, and pray to the goddesses that we don’t get evicted.”

The defeatist attitude around here is starting to annoy me. Everyone assured me that I wouldn’t have to give birth to my children here and, so far, it’s turning out to be a complete lie. “No. We can go to the library and dig into the old texts. We can recheck the radio tower. There are things we can do!”

Freddie rubs my back, tenderly. “There, there,” he whispers. He’s being a real turd about this.

“Don’t ‘there-there’ me, Freddie. You know there’s a way out as much as I do. You saw the message from Logan. You said it was real. ‘The door is closed.’ What door? We have to figure this out,” I stammer.

He agrees with me. I know he does. There is still hope in those dark, grey eyes. He kisses my cheek and whispers, “You’re right. I’ve put you on the sidelines during this pregnancy because I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

My lips quiver. A strong emotion comes over me. “I can do this, Freddie. I know I’ve been puking every morning, and sometimes I get a little irrational. But I can do this. I’m strong enough, and my will is sincere. I need to give birth in the place I grew up in.”

Drake stands up and tosses me the key. “I agree with the jaguar. I’ve watched all of you bicker for quite a while now, and I’m getting tired of it myself. It may be hard to believe, but this key means something. I’m just a human to you, but something bigger is at play, and all of you are just whining, without any action. Words are meaningless, lads. Get that through your heads.”

Loke paces the room. Back home, he would’ve made an excellent chieftain of his people. Here, he is nothing but the captain of a sinking ship. He asks Drake, “Who gave you that key?”

“Precisely,” Drake says. “These are the questions we need to be asking here. Who gave me that key? Well, now. I need to think about this. He was short. That’s for sure. He had a different tint to him as well.”

Gregory sighs loudly, uninterested in figuring out who is responsible for giving him the key. Admittedly, this pisses me off. I don’t know if it’s my hormones, or if it’s the fact that he’s been the worst of the bunch when it comes to leaving this spot. Either way, he needs to chill out.

I ask, “Is there a problem, Gregory?”

The young wolf shifter slides his black hair out of his eyes. “I’m becoming overwhelmingly bored of this conversation,” he says.

I glance at Freddie, so that he might speak up on my behalf. His lips tighten with annoyance. “So what do you want us to do instead?” he asks.

“I don’t know. I like it here just fine. The weather is nice enough. We have all the food we need. Plus, I don’t have to work or show off any stupid abilities. I think you guys are kind of crazy, honestly. The airpark is a great place to raise some cubs,” he says.

Eric slaps the back of Gregory’s head. He falls from his chair and whelps loudly. “Crazy? We don’t talk like that to family. The jaguar is right. We can’t stay forever,” he says. “Go on, Drake. You said he was short?”

“That could be anyone,” I groan.

“It wasn’t just that,” Drake adds. “It sounded like he had phlegm stuck in the back of his throat. If I didn’t have any sense, I’d swear he was part toad.”

“Wait,” I whisper. A light bulb goes off in my head. “Say that again.”

“What? He had phlegm in his throat. I swear,” he says.

“No! I mean the other part,” I say.

“That he was a toad? Well, he seemed like he was. I don’t see how that’s possible though. There aren’t any toad shifters. That’s just an absurd idea,” Drake mutters.

I heave my colossal body from my chair and hug him. He nearly topples over. “I love you so much, Drake! I could kiss you!”

Freddie raises his top lip, and shifts awkwardly. “Hey, what the heck?”

The excitement gives me an undeniable wave of energy. “Oh, I don’t mean it like that. I think I just realized something huge. My brother’s alpha had visions, but they were more like portals into another realm. All of this happened right before we met, Freddie. He said he had talked to some toad-like dude. His name was Gorbins!”

Drake doesn’t know how to take this. His eyes shift from Freddie to me. “Er, and this Gorbin. What did he tell your brother?”

“Gorbins,” I correct him. “And he was the knowledge keeper around the place. He told him about the fate sisters and the Goddess Astra. He said there were many chosen-ones, and that his twins held some power. That’s when I realized that my intuition about the Brotherhood was right.”

“And this Gorbins is real?” Drake asks.

“Yes!” I almost jump into the air, but quickly realize that gravity would pull me down faster than I could even jump. “I didn’t know he could travel into each realm.”

Henry snorts quietly. We all look at him. Drake chuckles a little too. “This is ridiculously entertaining, but I can’t take it seriously. I apologize, but a toad-man? And his name is Gorbins? This story is too much for an old bloke like me.”

“I may be pregnant, but I can shift and tear you into pieces. Watch your words. These are the outer-realms we’re talking about,” I say, turning very serious.

Freddie kneels down and rubs his hand against my stomach. He looks up at everyone and nods. “It’s true. I’m beginning to feel a little uncomfortable about this. This is a sacred topic. The three fates are nothing to joke around about. They’ll have your head if they want to, Henry. Drake, that goes for you too.”

The room is silent. The air is damp and cold. But I have so much love and admiration in the world for Freddie right now. It’s hard not to look at him without bawling my eyes out. I guess it’s my emotions getting the best of me. Wait, no. It’s the fact that we’re destined to be together, and I know that he always has my back.

“I need a few moments,” I whisper.

Alarmed, Freddie chases after me into the stairwell. “Hey, do you need me? What’s up?” He’s winded, and his eyes glaze over with worry.

“Nothing is wrong.” My hand runs across his cheek before I kiss him softly. I pull back, and goosebumps rise against my neck.

“Then where are you going? I don’t want you to hurt. I know this is all incredibly tough on you right now,” he says.

The manly thing is a real turn on, but I want to ease his worry. There is a ton on my mind: the pregnancy, his family, and getting back home. But I can get through all that. What I want is to feel useful again.

“Seriously, don’t worry. I’m just going outside to think a little. Okay? I’ll be upstairs in five minutes, tops,” I say.

His eyes are full of worry. He keeps glancing down at my baby bump. I let out a short laugh, but he doesn’t want to let me go. “It’s not funny. What if you fall or something?”

“Fall?” I laugh even harder. “I’m not Humpty Dumpty.”

With this, he knows that he has to give in and let me go. If he doesn’t, he’s going to be in trouble. “Alright, alright. I’ll move aside. But only on one condition.”

“Fine,” I say.

He leans down in front of me. He touches my stomach and addresses the triplets. “Okay, come on,” I say. “Enough of that.”

“Hey, my babies. It’s your daddy speaking. Yeah, the wolf shifter who can’t keep his knot in his pants,” he says.

I turn my hips and take a step down on the stairs. “I’m about two seconds away from leaving,” I sing.

His cheeks turn pink, as he chuckles. “Just kidding, sweetheart. Let me start over,” he says, before clearing his throat. “Babies. I love you more than anything. I know when the time comes and Jonas’s water breaks, you’re going to fill us with more joy than the sun above us could ever give. And though we’re stuck here right now, I promise we’ll get you all back home in one piece. I have to come through on this. If I don’t, I’ll never forgive myself.”

He kisses my belly, tenderly. I pet his hair back and purse my lips into a smile. “Dammit. Why do you always have to make me cry like that, Freddie?”

He is trying his hardest not to cry. “Sorry. I’ll, uh, let you get some air. Okay, yeah.”

Any time that we separate, the air feels thin. I lug my body down the stairs. I need the workout, anyway. In the downstairs hallway, I can think more clearly. There are not as many wolves walking around, yelling everything that comes to mind.

Walking up to the vase of roses, I stop to sniff the beautiful petals. For some reason, it reminds me of the Pines. My father Alste used to work in the garden, and he had roses just like these.

I whisper, “The door is locked. Can you hear me?”

Logan is searching for us. It’s an insane thought to ponder. They just had their cubs, and somehow they’re already mixed up in my crap again. First, it’s the arrowhead. Now, it’s this. I feel like I’m the butt of every bad joke. Only, it’s not a joke at all. It’s as serious as it can get.

“It’s about as dark as the night sky in this picture,” I whisper.

I pick up the framed picture and stare at it. The wolf, in all his glory, is howling at that full moon. His powers are coming to life. Below is an unoccupied house, with a steaming cauldron of stew near the front porch. It’s eerie. In fact, it makes me dislike the whole picture.

Yet, there’s something wholesome to the scene. Maybe there is someone in the house, and I just don’t know it. The light is on, so why not? But then, why is there no shadow of a person visible? Not to mention, the door is locked shut. When I look closer, there’s a bolt on it.

“The door is locked…”

Tears fall down my cheek when I realize what the picture means. “No,” I whisper. “It was right in front of us the whole time.”

My hand is shaking erratically with fear, excitement, and apprehension. I can’t look at that house anymore. The picture drops onto the floor, but it remains intact. On the backside is a small, silver inscription: 54.4542° N, 3.2116° W.

I yell at the top of my lungs, “Freddie! Come down here!”

A stampede of feet comes running down those stairs. The whole wolf family bursts through that door. “Is he hurt?” Drake has his first aid kit ready to use on me.

“Guys, I’m fine. But you’re going to want to see this,” I say, pointing at the painting.

The painting is not worth bending over to pick up right now. If I throw my back out, I’ll be done for the month. Freddie takes the painting in his hand and winces. “Kind of spooky, huh?”

“Yeah, but look closely. There’s more to it,” I say.

“What?” Loke leans in and squints his eyes. The grey in his eyebrows scrunches up. “The wolf? Yeah, so what? It’s just something I found in an old thrift store.”

“Not the wolf,” I say. I get in close to them and point at the door. “Do you see? The door. It’s locked.”

Freddie has the same reaction that I had. Shaking, he turns to me and smiles. “The door is locked! No freakin’ way. I can’t believe this. I’m starting to get spooked.”

I laugh and kiss his cheek eagerly. “Now, flip the painting over. See the small silver button?”

Freddie looks back at his parents. “Anyone got a phone?”

Drake waves us upstairs, excitedly. “Come on now! We don’t have much time now, do we?”

But Henry doesn’t follow. There is a gleeful look in his eyes. “I know where that is,” he says.

“Where? Is it far?” I ask.

He nods. Henry finally feels useful, and he’s proud of it. “It’s about six hours north. I haven’t got a van, but I know someone who does. He’d let us use it too. The bloke owes me a favor, he does.”

We make a plan to visit this “friend” of Henry’s. Six hours is nothing to me now that we’ve waited almost two years to get back home.

There is something in that house. I know it. If we somehow find it, I think we’ll have all the answers we need.